For anyone who has ever sought to live a creative life, this book is for you. Elizabeth Gilbert knows how to live! This amazing woman has put into words what we all need to hear. Be creative for the sake of creativity. Find some time in your life to do something you really enjoy, for no reason other than you really enjoy it. Nothing new, yet inspiring in her approach. While I didn’t feel motivated by her describing ideas as having consciousness and will, I did enjoy her dedication to living a creative life because, as she says, to not live a creative life is not living at all.

I took her message a bit further. As I read her words, I realized I’m not a writer and photographer simply because I love to “make things,” as she put it, or bring ideas to life. Art, whether it be photography, writing, whatever, is a form of expression. It’s not simply, for me, about a passion to make art for art’s sake. It’s about having a voice. I’ve chosen writing and photography as my medium to bring forth a message, a message of my true passion: animals. The two are intertwined. And so I shall go forth, buoyed by her words of encouragement. For the animals.